America as "home"

[Jamie]

I also think here of Col 1.13, that God has transferred us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Or John’s words that we have been born “from above,� or “again.� We have a new identity, a new heritage, a new citizenship. Phil. 3.20: “…but we are citizens of heaven.� Or Jesus’ beautiful wedding imagery in John 14.1-3, about how he is going on ahead of us to add a room (or two or five million…) to his Father’s house so we can live with him there.
If we truly are citizens of heaven, then our behavior is going to look quite odd to others. Flannery O’Connor said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd.� I’m also thinking of Stanley Hauerwas’s and Will Willimon’s great book, Resident Aliens – we are resident aliens here on earth because our true citizenship is in heaven, citizens of one country who (temporarily) dwell in another.
Mandy and I got a small taste of this when we moved out West. The culture there was just so different than here, which we didn’t totally expect because we were still in the same country. Even words like “barbecue� or “toboggan� just meant totally different things out there.
I think also here of how Jesus Himself lived on earth as a stranger and an alien, as someone who knew rejection intimately. As Americans, we need to own up how easily we buy into the lie that the good old USA is our home. After all, we are wealthy, we are secure, we have everything that we need. We have things so well that we rarely think about eternity. Without trying to sound sanctimonious, I think we’d have a deeper longing for our heavenly home if we were citizens of a poorer, less powerful nation.